AKLATAN KO’Y KANLUNGAN: The Campaign for Diverse, Inclusive and Safe Spaces in School and Public Libraries

 AKLATAN KO’Y KANLUNGAN: A Campaign to Promote the Diverse, Inclusive, and Safe Space Programming in School and Public Libraries

Proponents: Zarah Gagatiga, PASLI PRO and PBBY Board Member;

Brian Aljer B. Coballes, Educational Media Center Coordinator,Ateneo de Manila University;

Alistair Troy B. Lacsamana, Librarian, Quezon City Public Library 

How the AKK Campaign Works

1. Register your name and school library. (Google Form)
2. Identify an area of library service and/or program of focus
    - Collection Development Program
    - Readers Services
    - Library Admin and Management; Policy Making 
    - Community and Civic Outreach by the Library              

    - Research on Inclusion and Diversity in the School Library

3. Upload a two-page description of the service or program including tools of assessment and evaluation (rubric, anecdotes, journals, survey, etc.)
4. Share an update of your progress on the PASLI Facebook Page  

and/or on your library’s social media page or site (FB, IG, TwtX, YT, TikTok)
5. Use the hashtags: #AKKCampaign2324; #safespaceLibrary; #LibraryForAll

 

Updates are done every two months - a total of six posts.

 

Stories of your AKK Campaign journey can include successes, victories and triumphs  

in big and small ways as well as mistakes and failures and the ways it helped you learn  

or derive insights from the experience.

 

The finished product will be presented in the first quarter of 2025. 

PBBY x PASLI Panel on Safe Space and Libraries

PBBY X PASLI PANEL: AKLATAN KO’Y KANLUNGAN

Manila International Book Fair, September 15, 2023

Friday, 10AM - 12NN SMX 5

The PBBY and PASLI panel on Safe Space in Libraries with the title Aklatan Ko’y Kanlungan is inspired by the stories of children and young people growing up in the post COVID19 era. It is a time when changes happen so fast; when advancements in technology are at an accelerating speed; when the quest to balance wellbeing and health are at a threat of uncertain phenomena like plagues, natural disasters caused by climate change as well as human fallacies and frailties. What a bleak way to begin life after lockdown in this outlook. This only goes to show that PBBY and PASLI are aware of the realities that impede the continued growth of children and young people. A conversation about safe spaces for children and young people in the provision of diverse and inclusive programs for them can be an opportunity to identify ways and means to manage and mitigate in the midst of change and chaos.

The panel has topics on policies and white papers on inclusion and diversity; as well as best practices in the pursuit of the rights of all human beings and their consequent development in the context of children’s books, literature and media, reading programs and library services for children. Specifically, the Invited panelists, librarian Alistair Troy B. Lacsamana of the Quezon City Public Library and Brian Aljer B. Coballes, Ateneo de Manila University's Educational Media Center coordinator will present best practices of safe space in the school and public library. PASLI PRO and PBBY Board Member, Zarah Gagatiga will provide seven discussion points on growing a diverse and inclusive school library collection

Review of Related Literature: Aklatan Ko'y Kanlungan

 I am leading a panel/round table discussion in June - a month away. The topics that are up for discussion are safe spaces; inclusion and diversity; multicultural programming in school library and children's library services. Setting the tone of the panel is crucial so I am gathering articles, resources and materials.

My guiding questions are:

1.       What is safe space; inclusion and diversity?

2.       How are the concepts of safe space, inclusion and diversity present and applied in the school library and in children’s library services?

3.       What are evidences of safe space, inclusion and diversity in libraries – in general?

4.       What is the “ideal” safe space for children?

5.       How can libraries create, manage and sustain a library collection that is inclusive and diverse?

My keywords are: school libraries; children's library services; safe space; inclusion and diversity; school library programming. I use Wakelet to dump articles I browed through online. After three days, I go back to Wakelet and read - in depth and more deliberate. I begin to take notes.

This is what my Wakelet looks like: